If Only

by xxlildevilxx1506

If only Albus and Minevra had acted on their feelings all of those years ago, so many things could have been different. Including the life of one Harry James Potter. ADMM

18. Chapter 16

Albus sat at his desk trying to compose himself for the confrontation he knew was walking towards his office. He clenched his fists a few times to get rid of some of the anger that was boiling just below the surface of his calm facade. He had gone about the school today and discreetly asked some of the upper year students what they knew of the detentions that Harry, Fred, and George had been subjected to, it made his blood boil that most of the students had known about the string of detentions, but none of them had ever thought to inform an adult about the predicament. Either Severus had done something like this before or the children had never thought that he couldn't do something like this.

The Gryffindor upper years had told him that they would see the three boys enter the common room late, usually after curfew. They then told him about how when the detentions first started Harry would always offer to try and help the twins with their homework but they never accepted his help and always made sure Harry was in bed as early as possible. Albus knew that he would be pulling the twins aside to thank them for their protection of his son.

He had sent an owl to Professor Snape telling him that he expected him in his office at eight o' clock. If Severus was wise he would have picked up on the angry tone of the letter. His wards alerted him to someone speaking the password to the gargoyle that guarded the main entrance to his office. He folded his hands on top of his desk and tried to calm his frayed nerves.

"Enter." He called out a note of sharpness in his voice that he was unable to mask.

The door opened slowly and Severus Snape walked swiftly into the room, his robes swaying somewhat limply behind him. "Headmaster." Severus began smoothly. "I have something of the upmost importance waiting for me. If we could reschedule this meeting to later date, I would be much obliged."

"Sit down Severus. We shall be discussing things of the upmost importance tonight." Albus said calmly but the fire in his eyes betrayed him and Snape knew would not be leaving the office happy. Snape's face could have been carved out of stone for all the emotion he showed as he sat down and stared blankly at his employer.

The two sat in silence for a few moments before Snape broke down and spoke. "What is it you wished to speak about sir?" he asked in a voice that could be called polite.

Albus stared at him for a few more moments making the dour man shift uncomfortably. "Did you think I would not find out Severus?" he asked his cold gaze focused on his most difficult professor.

"I really have no idea-" Snape said with raised eyebrows before Albus cut him off.

"Do not insult my intelligence with needless lies, Severus. I have played this game for far longer than you and no matter what skills you think you may have I will win." Albus said in a raised voice taking Snape by surprise at the amount of anger in his voice and the venom I his words. "I am talking about the unauthorized detentions you gave to Messer's Fred and George Weasley and Harry Potter."

Snape snarled at the mention of Harry Potter and jumped up from his seat. "Of course this is about precious Potter, the Gryffindor Golden Boy, the boy-who-lived. What did the little rat bastard come 

running up here with his tail between his legs because he had to work for once in his life? The spoiled brat doesn't know the first thing about...about anything." Snape ranted astonishing Albus. He had no idea that Severus's hatred for James ran deep enough for him to take it out on his on like this.

"This is not just about Harry Potter Severus. This is about the fact that you have broken the rules of this school knowingly. You abused your power over children to take revenge on a man who has been dead for ten years. This is about how Argus found these same children going back to their common room after midnight. This is about how the entire Gryffindor Tower agreed with the fact that they hadn't been in before midnight in over two weeks. This is about how you are torturing three students for something they may or may not have done." Albus said trying to drill the fact that this wasn't just about his son into his head. Yes that was apart of it, but the larger part of this whole ordeal was Severus's abuse of power.

"I did nothing wrong. Fred and George Weasley have been breaking the rules since they entered this school. A detention will do them some good. As for Harry Potter" Snape said spitting out Harry's name. "I see how arrogant he is. The pampered prince of Gryffindor tower. He's just like his father thinking that he's better than everyone else because of a scar on his forehead. He's a useless child who will become an even more useless man. A burden on society. He-"

"ENOUGH." Albus shouted in a booming voice that shook the room. "That is quite enough." He repeated more quietly and more calmly. Snape stood rooted to the floor staring wearily at Albus, looking like he was ready to run at any sign of danger. It was a rare thing for Severus to see Albus angry, he had seen him furious once and he never wanted to see anything remotely like that again. "You are not to give those boys another detention unless you have undeniable fact that they are worthy of the punishment. If they do deserve the punishment I shall decide with who, when and how long their detentions shall be. Do you understand?" Albus said in a dangerously calm voice.

"Yes, sir." Snape said through gritted teeth. He turned with a flourish and quickly crossed the room and opened the door. Albus face lost all its anger and emotional exhaustion set in. He really shouldn't have lost his temper with his potions professor and he was ashamed of himself for doing so. He should have never let his personal problems interfere with his work.

"Severus!" Albus called before the dour man could step through the door completely. Snape halted but did not turn around. "I am sorry for... losing my temper." Albus said. There was silence for a moment before Snape left the room without uttering another word.

Albus sighed and banged his head on his desk a few times. "Bugger." he said to himself.

"Don't be so harsh on yourself lad." Armando Dippet said from his portrait. "You did only what you had too."



"I just hope he doesn't see this as a betrayal. Knowing Severus as I do, it will seem to him that I was choosing Harry over him. It will not matter that he was the one breaking a thousand years of school policy." Albus said sorrowfully.

"You can't force him to see something he willingly chooses to ignore." Armando said wisely.

"I suppose." Albus said. He took one last deep breath before standing up from his chair and walking to his quarters. He had no pending paperwork to fill out and he had already been to the ministry twice today, so that gave him an evening free from work.

While going over several of his recent conversations with Nathan he had noticed several incidents or several statements that had alarmed him somewhat. Nathan would say or do something out of character or unusually mature, that made him wonder just what his son had been doing in Italy. Then when he had thought about it and he realized that Nathan had never talked much about his social life in Italy only about his studies, which made him even more curious.

He entered his quarters and was met with the sound of loud laughter. His wife was sprawled haphazardly on the love seat and her best friend Rolanda Hooch was rolling around on the floor. "Good afternoon." he said somewhat tentatively. His wife was usually the one who kept him in line but when she was around Rolanda he became scared. She seemed to lose all sense of duty or decorum and went wild.

The two women looked up at him then only laughed harder. It was a sign he was sure, that he didn't want to know what they were talking about. "Have either of you seen Nathan?" He asked wanting to leave the room as quickly as possible. Rolanda pointed blindly to where the kitchen was.

"Thank you." he said before he fled the room. He entered the kitchen in record time and was relieved to see his son sitting on the counter eating a bowl of ice cream.

"They chase you away too." Nathan asked casually as he swallowed a spoonful of ice cream.

"No, I ran away." Albus said causing Nathan to laugh, and then choked slightly on his ice cream. Albus banged him on the back a couple of times to make sure his son didn't die from an ice cream induced death. "Alright?" He asked.

"Yes, thank you." Nathan said as he repositioned himself on the counter and wiped the tears from his eyes.

Albus walked to the cupboard and pulled out his favorite flavors of ice cream, strawberry madness, peanut butter bonanza, chocolate, and cotton candy. He felt Nathans eyes on him as he started making himself a sundae. "How was your day?" he asked.



"Fun, I went to Diagon Alley to pick up a few things, I needed a new book and mum found my stash of candy." Nathan said after swallowing some ice cream.

"Did you get any fudge squares?" Albus asked with a grin.

"Two boxes. Yours are in Evans room under his pillow." Albus raised his eyebrow at his son's odd choice of storage. "Mum had already searched there; she went on a sugar rampage today. Why do you think there are three cakes currently being baked? She's gone mad!"

"Not mad just pregnant and I doubt your aunt is helping. Her sweet tooth is nearly as large as mine." Albus said as he dumped a few cherries on his sundae. "Perfect!" he said.

"Nice work." Nathan said as he appraised his father's sundae with a critical eye. "I can never get just the right amount of peanut butter sauce. I either add too much, over powering the chocolate sauce or don't add enough." Nathan said with a sad shake of his head, being completely serious. They took food and its creation very seriously in their family.

Albus crosses the kitchen and propped himself up so that he was sitting on the counter beside his son. "It will come with time son." he said giving Nathan a reassuring pat on the shoulder. Nathan only nodded his acceptance before taking another bite of his ice cream.

"How was the ministry, mum told me you got called away at lunch?" Nathan asked.

"Boring. The new minister, minister Fudge, didn't know the correct procedure for appointing a new Wizengamot member. He called me and I had to explain to him that the seat is hereditary and that as minister he has nearly no power over the Wizengamot." Albus said disdainfully. The new minister had been calling him daily looking for advice; it was starting grate on his nerves that the man seemed incapable of thinking for himself.

Nathan snorted. "He's an idiot, then. We learn about the Wizengamot proceedings in second year history."

"You words not mine." Albus said with a small grin. The two sat in a comfortable silence for a few minutes before Nathan spoke again.

"Tomorrow I think I'm going to muggle London. I need some new clothes." he said.

Albus understood the unasked question. "You can take money from your trust at Gringotts just don't go crazy."

"Thanks." Nathan said.



"I actually came in here to ask you a question that has been bothering me for some time." Albus breached slowly. Nathan nodded for his father to continue. "What did you do in Italy when you weren't in lessons?" He asked.

Nathan shrugged. "Nothing much. I hung out in the muggle world with some friends." Nathan said vaguely.

Albus frowned slightly at the evasive answer and decided to be blunt. "Are you sexually active?"

Nathan stopped mid bite. "What?" he asked somewhat incredulously.

"Are you sexually active?" Albus repeated.

"I heard what you said but what gave you that idea?" Nathan asked with a slight blush on his cheeks.

"The way you say certain things, and the altercation you had with your Aunt Rolanda when I asked you to watch your brothers' football game." Albus said. Nathan stayed quiet and took another bite of his ice cream. "You haven't answered my question."

"Currently no I'm not 'sexually active', I'm eating ice cream." Nathan answered sarcastically. Albus looked at his son sternly. "Fine I'm a virgin, if you're so interested." Nathan said as he jumped off the counter. Albus followed suit and placed his ice cream down.

"There are other forms of sex. We had this talk once if you'd like I could refresh your memory." Albus said.

Nathan crossed his arms and looked unimpressed with his father's threat of another sexual education talk. "What is it exactly you want to know?" Nathan asked challengingly.

"I don't want any details I just want to make sure you know what you're doing. I know that the world is different from when I was a teenager and that certain things are accepted-"

"I'm not gay if that's what you're asking." Nathan said.

"Homosexual or not I do not care, but what I do care about is that you are taking all the proper precaution. Nothing is without consequence, be it emotional or physical." Albus told his son.

"Ohh please, I read your journal for Merlin's sake, you were no saint. You must have had 'sexual activity' with at least a half dozen girls when you were seventeen." Nathan burst out somewhat angrily.

"First of all I was a seventeen an adult, something which you are not. You are fourteen and still a minor. Secondly how do you think I felt about those altercations when I met your mother? I 

can tell you now I felt horrible and disgusting." Albus said somewhat heatedly. He was usually so calm when dealing with his children but lately Nathan had been able to hit all the right cords to make him angry. He took a deep breath, something he'd been doing a lot of lately and spoke more gently. "I can't make you do anything and I can't stop you from doing anything. You are your own person and you will make your own choices. I only want you to learn from my mistakes and think of the consequence before you take any rash action."

Nathan calmed down a bit after his father's little speech. "I promise I won't do anything rashly, can we please change the subject?" he asked hastily.

"Not quite yet. Before you engage in any of this 'activity' I want you to read a book that every boy should read." Albus said.

"What book?" Nathan asked. He really didn't want to talk about this anymore.

"A book on contraceptive. Don't give me that look. It's a very important part of being sexually active. When you've finished it we will have another conversation on the text of the book." Albus said leaving no room for compromise

"Fine. Now can we please change the subject?" he practically begged.

"Of course." Albus said cheerily picking up his ice cream once again. Nathan waved his wand and his empty bowl flew into the sink.

"What are we doing for the twins birthday? November 31, is in two weeks and I still don't know what to give them." Nathan said.

"It lands on a Thursday so we'll celebrate on Friday evening, as for presents I'm still deciding too." Albus replied somewhat guiltily. In all the stress he'd been under lately he hadn't really thought about what to get his oldest children for their birthday. He had an idea but he still needed to run it by his wife to get her approval.

"I have an idea for Evan. I was thinking of getting him a hoard of muggle athletic equipment and accessories for his quidditch practices. They have some really wicked things that I've yet to see in the magical world, but I'm at a loss for what to give Lizzy. She's so difficult to shop for." Nathan said. Albus thought the idea for Evan was a good one and told him so. He also agreed with Nathan about Lizzy but he didn't vocalize it.

"Why don't you get her one of those computers you were showing me? This way she could keep track of her studies while keeping in touch with the muggle world. She'd like that." Albus suggested.



"That's an idea. I can pick up hers and Evans presents tomorrow after I buy some new clothes. Brilliant." Nathan said feeling relived that he didn't have to worry about gifts anymore. "Thanks dad." They were silent for a few minutes as Albus finished his ice cream.

"What was it you were thinking of giving them?" Nathan asked curiously.

"It's actually rather large and I'm not sure if I should. I was going to speak with your mother about it." Albus answered. Nathan gave his dad puppy dog eyes and jutted out his bottom lip. He didn't even have to say any words before Albus caved. "I had the idea that since they were living on their own and venturing into their lives that I would give them both a company from the family holdings. It would provide them with a source of income for as long as they needed and it would give Evan a taste of what he would be responsible for once he becomes head of the family."

Nathan blinked at the enormity of his father's present. "That's a rather good idea. Teaching them responsibility while giving them the extra cash they need to live comfortably without coming to you or mum every week for money. I think it's a great idea."

"Now all I need is your mother's approval but she shouldn't be hard to convince. It's not as if I'm doing something silly, this should actually help them in the long run." Albus said finding his idea more and more attractive.

"Is the cake ready yet?" Rolanda asked lightly, the smile that had been on her face all afternoon remaining the same.

"Ten more minutes." Minerva said with a lazy wave of her hand.

"Damn, I'm starving." Rolanda said with a slight whine in her voice.

"You sound like my children." Minerva said with an unladylike snort.

Instead of the glaring response or the pillow being thrown like she had expected, Rolanda became quiet. "Did you ever in your wildest dreams think that when we were in school that we would wind up like this? You the Deputy Headmistress of the most prestigious school in the world secretly married to the most powerful man in the world, and me an ex-quidditch star still bonking my way through life." She asked seriously.

Minerva took her time in answering her friend's question. "Before I first saw Albus no. I always thought I would get married in a posh ceremony to some wealthy pureblood scion of my parents choosing. I thought that I would work in a ministry office for some years before retiring to have children. It was rather bleak; I never thought I would run off, disobeying my parents. I 

always hoped you would settle down eventually, but never really put much faith in it. I knew even then that you were too much of a… free spirit to be tied down in something as permanent as marriage."

Rolanda thought about her friends answer before looking to Minerva with a grin. "What was the first thought that went through your mind when you saw Alby?" She asked curiously. She had been friends with Minerva for more than fifty years and she had never asked. Usually when they talked it was about her latest escapade or her niece and nephews.

Minerva's cheeks turned slightly red and shook her head. "I'm abstaining from answering that question."

Rolanda face was one of outrage. "No way, you owe me. I tell you everything."

"You wouldn't understand." Minerva said hoping her friend would drop the subject but knowing that if anything Rolanda was persistent.

"Tell me!" Rolanda demanded with her hawk like eyes pleading.

"Fine!" Minerva huffed. "What went through my mind when I first saw Albus?" she mused. "My mind went completely blank. I forgot about school, expectations, even you. All that I knew was that I wanted him." She answered.

Rolanda laughed out loud. "And I always thought you were so innocent in Hogwarts." She cackled.

"What?" Minerva said. "Not like that you pervert." She said as she threw a pillow at the still chortling Rolanda.

"Then what exactly does 'I wanted him' mean if you're not using it in a sexual way?" Rolanda asked enjoying the splash of color on her friends cheeks. It didn't matter how many times she asked her friend or begged for details, Minerva refused to talk about her sex life. Which was the complete opposite of Rolanda who told Minerva every detail welcomed or not.

"I wanted to be with him." Minerva said simply not knowing how to express her feelings in words.

"No that doesn't sound sexual either." Rolanda said with a snort. Minerva had no more pillows near her so she picked up a chocolate frog and chucked it at her friend. Rolanda snatched it out of the air and quickly popped it in her mouth. "Thanks." She said through a mouthful of chocolate.

The door from the kitchen opened and Albus stepped out with two pieces of banana cake.



"Brilliant, we're getting delivery service." Rolanda said. She sat up on the couch and eagerly watched as Albus stepped towards her with the cake.

Albus held out a piece of cake for her and years of experience kept him from flinching when she snatched it away quicker than a starving dog would a steak.

"Did you find Nathan?" Minerva asked as Albus sat next to her in the love seat. He handed her the piece of cake before answering. "Thank you." She said accepting the cake more mannerly than Rolanda had.

"Yes I did, we had a… interesting conversation." Albus said. "I don't mean to intrude upon your conversation but I wanted to know if you had a problem with me taking Nathan out tonight."

"Where are you going? I thought he was going to ask if he could go to London tomorrow." Minerva said.

"I'm not entirely sure where we'll go, I just thought it would be nice to spend some father son time together. We might go to a football game; I think Harry mentioned that Manchester United was playing." Albus said with a small shrug.

"That sounds like a fine idea; you two haven't gone anywhere since he's been back. Go have fun, I'm fine here with Rolanda." Minerva said.

Rolanda of course couldn't resist putting her two sense in. "That's so sweet he's asking permission." She said eliciting a small glare from Albus but he for the most part ignored her. He was used to her comments after hearing them for over fifty years.

"I'll see you tonight dear." Albus said. He kissed her gently on the lips before standing and leaving the room once more.

It was late when Albus and Nathan returned to Hogwarts, nearly midnight. They flooed into the headmasters office still talking enthusiastically about the game they had just witnessed.

"I can't believe Chelsea came back, I thought they were done for." Nate said the second his father stepped out of the floo.

"I never lost hope." Albus said with a smile and a light laugh.

"That's only because I bet a box of Fudge that Manchester would win. You only cared about the candy." Nate said.



Albus laughed out loud and refrained from answering. Instead he opened the door to their quarters and let his son step through before following him. "I don't know about you but I'm exhausted. I'm going to bed." Albus asked his son.

"I think I'm going to go practice in the dueling room. My silent casting could use some work and I'm wired. I don't think I could sleep if I tried." Nathan said rocking on the balls of his feet.

"Don't stay up too late and Nathan, be careful. Don't do anything you're not one hundred percent comfortable with. If you need any help you know where your mother and I will be." Albus told his son seriously. He normally never let the children in the dueling room unsupervised, Harry had never even been inside it, but he trusted Nathan to know his limits more than his other children so he gave him a bit more leeway. That didn't stop him from worrying about his son.

"I know, I know." Nathan said with a roll of his eyes.

"Alright. Good night, I'll see you tomorrow afternoon if you're not up by breakfast." Albus said. He ruffled his sons hair then walked towards where he knew his wife was waiting for him.

"Dad." Nathan said. Albus stopped walking and turned around with a questioning look. "I had a really wicked time tonight, thanks."

"I had a good time too." Albus said with a smile, glad that he and his son's relationship was back to normal. There had been some lingering tension and awkwardness for the past few weeks but this late night outing seemed to have put all of that behind them. Their bond had withstood its first hurdle and it had come out stronger. "I love you, Nathan." He said looking into the eyes he had given to his son.

"Love you too, dad." Nate said with a crooked little grin.

Albus nodded then resumed his walk to the master bedroom. Tomorrow was Friday and he had to get his paper work done in advance so that he and Minerva had Saturday free to consult with the specialist. He entered the bedroom and found Minerva sitting against the headboard with a sketch pad resting on her lap.

"How was the game?" she asked not looking up from her drawing.

"It was great actually. Nathan and I had a brilliant time." Albus answered as he pulled the blue Chelsea hat off of his head. "And I won a box of fudge." He added with an impish grin.

Minerva looked up from her pad with incredulous face. "You bet on a game with you son." She said laughter lacing her voice.



"And won too." Albus said. He took a whiff of himself and made a face. "I smell like I crawled out of a pub. I'm going to go take a shower."

"We're out of your soap." Minerva called after him. "We only have mine left we'll have to pick some up this weekend."

Albus nodded that he had heard her and left the room to take a quick shower. By the time he returned smelling strongly like lavender his wife was already dosing off, her sketch pad nowhere to be seen. He crawled into bed and snuggled up to Minerva. He let their closeness wash away all the stresses of the day and it left him feeling completely relaxed.

It was one of the many special things about their bond. Even the smallest of touches made him feel like there was nothing wrong in the world. Her touch made him feel invincible, she was his strength.

Saturday dawned like any other mid-November morning, with bitter winds and frosty temperatures. Harry had decided the night before to take advantage of the weekend to sleep in until at least half past nine. Maybe if he hadn't had such excitable friends he would have been able to.

"Harry, get your arse out of bed." Seamus yelled right before he launched himself into the air and landed on Harry's sleeping form.

Harry who hadn't even heard the yell of warning woke up when the full weight of his friend landed on his chest knocking the air out of his lungs. "Ooff".

"Good morning sunshine." Seamus said with a wicked grin, still on top of Harry.

"Get off." Harry said then he pushed his friend from his bed and tried to hide from the world under his thick blanket. Seamus let out a small scream of surprise before he hit the ground with a thud.

"This just won't do." Seamus said as he stood and pulled the blankets from his friend. "Come on its breakfast and you promised that we could go outside to kick the football for bit" Seamus whined.

"Why me?" Harry moaned pitifully into his pillow that he clutched with all his might.

"Because the fates are against you." Seamus said dryly. "Now get up!" he said then pulled Harry's pillow from beneath his head.



Harry lie on his bed his eyes still closed searching for some source of warmth or comfort but found none, Seamus had stolen them all. "Fine, I'm getting up." He said despairingly.

Seamus stood there with his arms crossed for a few moments and when Harry didn't move he grabbed his friends arm and pulled him out of bed. They both tumbled to the ground, Harry luckily enough landed on Seamus saving himself from the hard floor.

"Ouch." Seamus said from beneath Harry. "You have a really bony butt."

"Good." Harry said feeling slightly better knowing that he had enacted some revenge upon his friend, who had so rudely woken him up. He stood up slowly not bothering to try and save Seamus the discomfort of his 'bony butt'. Without bothering to help his friend up he grabbed some random clothes from his trunk and stumbled to the bathroom.

Twenty minutes later he emerged dressed, bathed, and refreshed. Instead of his normal school uniform Harry wore a stylish pair of blue jeans and a thick long sleeve shirt. Seamus was sitting on his bed dressed similarly in a pair of jeans and a jumper; he had a scarf, hat, gloves, and his cloak spread out on his bed.

"Finally, could you have taken any longer?" Seamus said from his spot on his bed.

"Don't push it." Harry warned his friend, he was still angry about being woken up from his restful sleep. He walked to his trunk and pulled out a black jumper, a pair of red gloves, a red hat, and a black cloak with the Potter insignia stitched above the left breast. "I'm ready." He stated.

"Aren't you forgetting a ball?" Seamus asked with a smirk. Harry cursed and reopened his trunk and grabbed a ball from his junk section. "Now you're ready." Seamus said cheerily. "Come on I want food, and breakfast ends soon."

Harry glared at his friend as Seamus grabbed his gloves his scarf and his hat and walked out of the room happily. Giving one last look to his bed he followed. He had a feeling to day was going to be a long day.

Albus woke before dawn broke on that particular Saturday, something that was nearly impossible to get him to do, but these weren't exactly normal circumstances. Today he and Minerva had a meeting with Doctor Allen Rockman. They were getting a second opinion on the birthing process for their newest bundle of joy.

For hours he lay with his eyes watching Minerva. He had memorized every contour of her face years ago but seeing her was still one of his life's greatest joys.



"I can't sleep with you watching me so intently." Minerva said breaking Albus from his trance like state. Minerva's eyes were still closed but a smile tugged at her lips.

"I can't bear to look away." Albus said in a voice hoarse from sleep. "We still have two hours until the appointment."

"Good, because I'm comfortable." Minerva said opening her eyes. Her hand snaked out from under the covers and immediately found her husband's. "Do you remember the summers before the children, how we would lay in bed until lunch. Sometimes doing nothing but watching each other, most of the time practicing making our future children." She said with a fond smile and a slight laugh.

"I remember every second I'm with you." Albus said looking into his wife's eyes. They stayed like that completely still for an unknown amount of time, eyes locked, barely blinking, and their faces inches apart.

Minerva was the one to break the silence of the moment. "Your breath smells." She whispered to her husband with a smile.

Albus chuckled. "So does yours." He informed his wife in a low voice. All the while his thumb was rubbing circles on the palm of her hand; he didn't even realize he did it. When he and Minerva had first got together she had told him that she enjoyed it, he had done it ever since.

"I love your smelly morning breath." Minerva said in an offhanded manner. Albus raised an eyebrow questioningly, silently asking why she loved his smelly breath. "I love your smelly morning breath because every morning when I wake up with you by my side it is the first thing I smell. It's when I don't smell your bad breath that I worry."

"Does this mean you want me to stop brushing my teeth?" Albus asked with a grin.

"If you stop brushing your teeth I'll be forced to stop kissing you." Minerva said with a barely hidden smile.

"Now that would be tragic." Albus said. "But I don't think you could resist my charm."

"Is that a challenge?" Minerva asked her eyes coming alive.

Albus swallowed nervously. If he said yes, he wouldn't be able to kiss his wife until he conceded defeat or until she gave in. The latter had never happened hence his quickly saying. "Of course not dear."

"Good, I would hate to not be able to kiss you. It's one of the highlights of my day." Minerva said moving closer to him slowly.



"If that's the case I think we should start the day off right." Albus said watching his wife, giving her control of the situation.

Using her prior knowledge and experience Minerva turned and languidly crawled on top of her husband, straddling him and in the process grinding lightly against him causing him to groan slightly. Albus grabbed her hips as she leaned down to give him a searing kiss that left the both of them breathless.

"You drive me crazy." Albus said shifting his hips trying to find a comfortable position so that he could settle down. He knew they shouldn't be doing this; they had an appointment in an hour and a half.

"I like crazy." Minerva said as she nibbled on his ear. She slowly moved lower so that she was kissing and biting his neck, then his shoulder.

Albus laid as still as he could trying to enjoy his wife's ministrations but it was difficult for him to stay calm as when he was watching his wife's full red lips kiss a trail down his body. He was forced to shut his eyes tightly after he watched Minerva's mouth engulf one of his sensitive nipples.

As Minerva's mouth moved lower and lower he wondered if he should do the responsible thing and stop before things went too far, but when his wife kissed him right above his pelvis all conscious thought left him. If they were late it would be worth it.

"We're late." Albus announce as he parked his sleek and shiny silver Porsche in the parking lot of the physician's office.

"I'm hungry." Minerva said in the same tone of her husband, not seeming at all concerned about their lateness. In reality she didn't really want to be here. She had never been to a muggle doctor and she wasn't sure they could do anything to help her that Poppy couldn't.

Albus sent his wife a look but refrained from saying anything. If he did open his mouth he would be tempted to say something to the effect that if she hadn't distracted them they would have had time for breakfast. Instead he reached into the pocket of his muggle suit and pulled out a freshly baked muffin he had grabbed specifically for this purpose.

Minerva snatched the freshly baked treat. "My hero." She said before taking a rather large bite out of her snack."Mmm." she moaned in pure bliss. "Blueberry, my favorite, thank you." She said before she got out of the car.

"You're welcome." Albus said with a smile all his former annoyance slipping from him when he saw the delighted expression on his wife's face. He climbed out of the car and fumbled slightly 

with the keys looking for the little button that would lock one of his preferred toys. He smiled when he heard the little beep that told him he had successfully master the locking mechanism. Driving he could do in his sleep but he wasn't so muggle savvy as to master all the little tricks that came with it, but he was getting there.

"Are you ready?" he asked as he laced his fingers through Minerva's. Minerva nodded opting not to speak through a mouth full of muffin. Together they slowly made their way to the entrance of the building. They made it to the waiting room with relatively little trouble the exception being the automatic door. When Albus had gone to open it for his wife it had opened by itself nearly hitting him in the face.

They entered a comfortable looking room filled with large leather couches and a receptionist desk. There were a few couples but the room was mostly filled with women who were sitting alone, several kept looking impatiently at their watches. Albus steered Minerva to the reception desk and immediately a young blonde girl greeted them.

"Hello and welcome to Greenwood medical center. Name please?" She said the wide smile never leaving her face. Minerva just took another bite of her muffin and let Albus handle the talking.

"Brian and Anne Ambrosias. We have a consultation with Doctor Rockman." Albus said confidently, without even the slightest hesitation at using their fake names. These were their muggle aliases and over the past few years with the children venturing into the world they had been getting a lot of use. Ambrosias was also the surname that their children used in both the magical and muggle worlds so they wouldn't be recognized for whose children they actually were.

The pretty blonde girl typed something into what Albus recognized as a computer then made a humming noise. "Yes you're scheduled for a consultation at ten o'clock." She said then sent a pointed look at the clock that told them it was quarter past ten.

Albus smiled his second most charming smile; the first was reserved for his wife, and leaned forward a little. "Traffic was horrible. I'm truly sorry, is there any way I can make it up to you?" he said in a voice lower than his normal tenor.

A slight blush rose on the cheeks of the blonde secretary and she stuttered out a squeaky. "Just try to be on time your next appointment." Behind them Minerva was trying to swallow her final bite of muffin without laughing hysterically at the situation. Her husband was old enough to be this girl's grandfather for Merlin's sake. The receptionist cleared her throat and gained some control of herself. "If you would please take a seat, the doctor will be with you shortly." She said with all the dignity she could muster.

Albus looped his arm with Minerva's and they walked to an empty couch. As soon as they sat down Minerva buried her head in her husband's finely tailored suit and giggled like a school girl. 

Albus put his arm around her shoulder and held her close watching her with amused eyes and a slight smile. "That poor girl, Albus, you're a dog." She said in a whispered voice lifting her head from his chest.

"No I'm as the kids say now a day's drop dead sexy." Albus replied confidently.

Minerva snorted unladylike drawing looks from everyone in the room and she once again buried her face in her husband's suit to hide her laughter. She lifted her head from his chest this time with a straight face. "If I had known you were this vain when I married you." She said teasingly.

"You couldn't resist me then either." Albus said lifting one hand and smoothing down his hair and brushing invisible lint off the sleeve of his suit jacket.

"And here I thought you were the one smitten with me." Minerva said with a raised eyebrow.

"Smitten, no that's not the right word at all." Albus said making Minerva look at him with a hard look in her eyes. "Completely, uttering and unbelievably in love sounds more accurate." He said with a smile that had been known to make her week in the knees in the past.

Minerva rolled her eyes but refrained from answering; instead she leaned against Albus and sat back comfortably the warm and fuzzy feeling in her stomach only improving the good mood the muffin had left her in. It was only when she had taken her attention off of her husband that she noticed the looks they were receiving from the rest of the room. Most of the women who had come alone were starring at her and Albus with blatant jealousy, even some of the women who were with their husbands were starring at them.

Just when she was becoming uncomfortable with the supposed to be discrete looks the receptionist spoke up. "Mr. and Mrs. Ambrosias. Doctor Rockman will see you now."

Minerva stood up first and straightened out her knee length skirt and slightly loose blouse. Albus did the same to his hand made black Italian suit. Automatically they grasped each other's hand and made their way to the door that the receptionist was holding open for them. They were led down a straight corridor with dark wood paneled walls to a room with a golden name plate reading 'Dr. Allen Rockman MD' in bold script.

The door opened before they could knock by an older looking man with a reassuring smile, dressed in slacks a blue dress shirt and a white lab coat. He was shorter by Albus by at least three inches, had a full head of grey hair and a face full laugh lines. "Ah Mr. and Mrs. Ambrosias." The doctor said shaking hands with both of them. "Come in, come in. I've been expecting you."



Albus and Minerva were ushered into a modern looking office that had three chairs already set up for their meeting. "Sit, please. Can I get you anything to drink, possibly eat?" he asked with a look at Minerva.

Minerva smiled slightly feeling at ease at the doctor's friendly manner. "Do you have any biscuits?" she asked feeling years younger than she really was. Sometimes she truly did enjoy the freedom that came with being in the muggle world. Here Albus and she could act like any other couple without the worry of a wizarding world scandal or some dark wizard hunting the children down.

Dr. Rockman smiled and walked to a cabinet and pulled out a tin of assorted biscuits. "My wife made them last night, enjoy." She said as he handed over the entire tin to Minerva. Minerva smiled happily and quickly opened the tin and put one in her mouth. Albus reached over to snatch one but before his fingers could grasp one, the back of his hand was hit with his wife's wand.

"Oww." He said rubbing his hand and watching his wife's wand apprehensively. He had learned during her first pregnancy not to anger Minerva to the point of her hexing him. Her magic seemed to be twice as strong and her anger three times as volatile when she was with child.

"That I believe brings us to why we are here." Dr. Rockman said interrupting the couple as he too was starring at the wand. Minerva's and Albus's eyes snapped to the doctor's and they both looked at him with such intensity that he was slightly unnerved. "Your husband explained to me your situation and for the past few days I have been consulting with my son to find a workable solution. I currently have several ideas all of which should work but I'll have to run tests to be sure."

"You mean to say that you might be able to help us?" Albus asked some of the shock he was feeling slipping into his voice. He had hoped there would be some help but he really hadn't expected it to be found so easily.

"Mr. Ambrosias or I should say Mr. Dumbledore now that we're alone, everyday in my world women give birth to children without the aid of these 'potions' you told me about. I don't see any reason why I can't help your wife. You told me your wife was allergic to an ingredient found in a 'blood restoration potion' so I am going to assume she's anemic and is at risk of heavy bleeding during birth. In my world this is situation is handled everyday without any ill effects." The doctor said with a smile at the matching expressions of shock and relief on the couples face.

"In the 'muggle' world as you called it, when someone is in need of blood we simply give them a blood transfusion, which in simple terms is giving the person in need someone else's blood. It of course has to be the right type and the blood is thoroughly screened before use, but its done everyday all across the world." Albus and Minerva looked slightly disturbed at the revelation.



"How do you get the blood for these 'transfusions'?" Albus asked curiously, Minerva looked like she wanted to ask something but she was too busy chewing a biscuit.

"Volunteers. Every drop given has the owners complete consent to be used in whatever means we see fit." Dr. Rockman said.

"That's odd not to mention dangerous." Minerva said after she swallowed her biscuit.

"No, no, it's completely safe." Dr. Rockman said trying to reassure his soon to be patient.

"What Minerva means Dr. Rockman, is that in our world you would never give someone your blood. It could be used against you through some of the darker aspects of the magical world." Albus explained to the doctor.

"Ahh." Doctor Rockman said acting as if he understood, when in reality this entire situation was

baffling him. He of course knew of magic, his son was a wizard but that didn't mean he understood it.

"What were these test's you spoke of?" Albus asked slightly concerned.

"Blood test's mostly. I need to identify your wife's blood type and then I need to test if I can give a magical person a normal person's blood or if the blood needs to be donated by another magical person. Things of that nature, all routine."

"When do we start?" Minerva asked her hand snaking its way into the tin that was already nearly empty.

The doctor smiled jovially. "We start now. I'll take you to an exam room for a blood sample and some other things, then I'll schedule you another appointment and you two can be on your way." The doctor said all this as he stood up and signaled for Albus and Minerva to follow suit.

As they were following the doctor to the exam room Albus couldn't keep the smile off his face. It wasn't definite yet but this doctor had given him the hope that he had missing since Minerva had told him about the baby. When he had first heard the words 'I'm pregnant' he thought it was as good as her saying 'I'm dying'.

Minerva saw her husband's smile and she felt the relief coming off of him. It made her heart lighter to know that if this went successfully their troubles wouldn't be over but they wouldn't be so overwhelming.

She reached in the tin that she had brought with her and took a large bite of the amazing biscuits. She didn't know what recipe it was or even the name of the biscuits but it was one of the most delicious things she had ever tasted.



Albus watched the complete bliss on his wife's face as she slowly chewed the biscuit. They looked really good and he hadn't had breakfast, he had only remembered to bring a muffin for Minerva. An idea popped into his head and without thinking of the possible consequences he leaned towards his wife as if he was about to kiss her but instead he snatched the half biscuit, that had been making its way to her mouth, out of her hand.

Minerva paused and nearly tripped as she forgot to watch where she was walking. She starred at Albus in shock as he chewed the biscuit making small sounds of appreciation. "That was tasty." He said.

"You stole my biscuit!" Minerva accused.

"Me!" Albus said in astonishment his eyes sparkling with laughter. "Never."

"I just watched you." Minerva said moving the tin to her left hand so it was farther from her husband.

"What proof do you have?" Albus asked purposely playing dumb.

Minerva swallowed a smile and reached up with her right hand to wipe the crumbs off her husband's mouth. "You've been caught red handed."

"Hmm." Albus hummed. "It seems I have." He said then completely dropped the subject.

"Don't you have something to say for yourself?" Minerva asked feeling like she was disciplining her children.

"It was a very good biscuit." Albus said with a smile. Minerva raised an eyebrow and gave him the look that said that wasn't what she was looking for. Albus stopped in the middle of the hallway and reached up to cup Minerva's face gently. "Thank you for sharing." She said then leaned in to give her a kiss, but instead of kissing her he licked the right side of her mouth then the left and the finally kissed her on the lips. Minerva looked at him questionably and Albus smiled somewhat sheepishly as he realized several nurses and Dr. Rockman were staring at them. "You had some chocolate on your face."

Minerva tried to be at least annoyed with her husband's immature behavior but she couldn't find it within herself when he looked so adorable with his childlike happiness radiating off of him. "Thank you." She said deciding to play along. "Maybe later I'll return the favor but right now we have somewhere to be."

Albus smiled stupidly as they started following the doctor again. Neither of them noticed the looks they were receiving from the nurses who had witnessed the encounter.



"Here we are." Dr. Rockman announced as he opened the door to a room that said 'Exam Room IV'. "Make yourselves comfortable and Mrs. Dumbledore if you could please sit on that bench there. If you would like to join her Mr. Dumbledore that would be fine." The doctor said as he immediately started to rummage through the shelves, pulling out several instruments that neither Minerva nor Albus recognized.

They both sat down, Albus with his right hand on the small of Minerva back and his left holding her hand and gently rubbing circles on her wrist to relieve and lingering fears she may have. Not that she was afraid, she was uncertain of what would happen and that left her feeling slightly uneasy.

Dr. Rockman sat in a chair with wheels attached to the bottom and rolled across the room with practiced ease. "Right now I'm going to check your heart rate and your blood pressure. Nothing to be worried about." He said with a look to their closeness.

Minerva felt decidedly uncomfortable as Dr. Rockman took her heart rate. The metal object was cold and her heart raced when the doctor put his hands on her chest. "I need you to relax dear." The doctor said in a gentle almost fatherly voice which almost made her laugh, she was older than this man, even though she didn't feel it at the moment.

Albus could tell that Minerva was uncomfortable and if he was honest with himself so was he. The doctor was anything but unprofessional but his soul was screaming possessively that Minerva was his and that no one had the right to touch her but him. He pushed down the urge to slowly and painfully disembowel the doctor and instead took Minerva's face in his hand and stared her in the eyes, so that all they saw was one another.

"Very good." The doctor said breaking them from one another. Minerva blinked and felt slightly ashamed at her dramatic reaction. It wasn't as if he had been doing anything inappropriate either. She hadn't felt this dumb since she had spilled pumpkin juice all down her front while staring at Albus, her then transfiguration teacher. Rolanda still brought the memory up because she thought it was hilarious.

The doctor wrote some thing down on a clip board then took a piece of clothe with some tubes attached to it. "Now for the blood pressure. This one shouldn't be so difficult. If you could please roll you sleeve up as far as you could." Minerva did as the doctor order and rolled the sleeve up with a twitch of her finger. Dr. Rockman blinked, before shaking his head. "Even after nearly ten years of my son being a wizard magic still manages to surprise me." He said with a small chuckle as he wrapped the cloth around Minerva's upper arm.

"It been surprising me for more than eighty years, don't worry, its normal." Albus said good naturedly to the doctor.



The doctor hesitated then finished wrapping Minerva's arm. When he was finished he looked searching at Albus and then at Minerva. "How old are you exactly?" he asked his professionalism slipping for the first time that day.

"I was born in 1910 and I am currently eighty one years of age." Albus said with smile at the man's stunned face.

The doctors eyes swiveled to Minerva's. "I'm sixty seven. Albus is fourteen years my senior." Minerva said also enjoying the doctors shocked look.

"Your both older than me but yet you look as if I could have fathered you." The doctor said after a few moments his cheery personality back.

"Witches and wizards have much longer life spans that muggles. On average we live to be about one hundred and fifty. Some live longer depending on how magically powerful they are." Albus explained.

"That's truly extraordinary. Some day you must explain it to me in more detail." The doctor said. Then with a shake of his head he made quick work of checking Minerva's blood pressure. It was so quick that Minerva didn't even have time to become nervous at the close proximity. "One-twenty over eighty that's perfect. You are a healthy woman Minerva." Minerva was somewhat puzzled as to what the doctor had just done and how it had told him that she was healthy but she decided not to ask questions.

The doctor set aside his blood pressure machine and next reached for a small tube that was wrapped in plastic. "This is called an I.V." He said showing the couple the contraption. "I put this thin metal tube into a vein and it drains blood into this vial. It's not a painful process but it some people are slightly intimidated by this part of the procedure. Are you ready?"

"Yes, of course." Minerva said pushing aside her nervousness.

The doctor wiped her arm with a small wet cloth that smelled strongly of cleaning products before, he quickly and gently inserted the needle into the crook of her arm. Minerva had braced herself but found it was unnecessary because the pain was almost nonexistent and the process was over before she could feel even remotely uncomfortable. When the doctor was done he wiped the small dot of blood from her arm and taped a small piece of gauze to her. The blood was put on a tray with her alias neatly printed on the vial.

"Now I need to ask you some basic questions for my chart. If you feel uncomfortable , I'm sorry but most of these questions need to be asked. For your sake of mind anything you tell me is privileged information, I swore and oath as a doctor to the confidentiality of my patients."

Minerva and Albus exchanged a look but consented to the questioning. It started out simple enough her day of birth, a detailed metical history, when her children had been born, what 

happened when Nathan was born, her stress levels, did she exercise, and did she eat a balanced diet. It was the next question that made Albus and Minerva somewhat uncomfortable.

"How often do you have sex?" Dr. Rockman asked with the same polite smile he had had on his face when he asked every other question.

"Often." Albus said vaguely.

"Once every two weeks, once a week, everyday?" the doctor asked his tone never changing.

"If Albus isn't stuck in Ministry of International meetings every day, sometimes twice a day." Minerva answered professionally trying not to blush.

The doctors pen made some scrapings against his paper before he asked his next question. "When was the last time you had sex?" he asked pen poised to write.

"This morning." Albus answered saving Minerva the embarrassment.

There were some more scribbles from the doctor then he asked his next question. "Was there any discomfort, pressure, or bleeding during your intimacy?" he asked.

"No." Minerva said her voice just barely off tune as she pushed down any embarrassment. She was a grown women and she knew that she shouldn't be embarrassed to talk about her sex life but it seemed wrong to call what she and Albus did just sex. To them it was something more. When they made love their soul's connected in a way that she knew from Rolanda's story's and Albus's past experience's that other peoples didn't. They had something special and to speak of it so plainly trivialized it.

"Good, good." The doctor said writing down her response. The rest of the questions weren't nearly as bad. Just some about the regularity of her menstrual cycle and if she was sure she was pregnant.

The doctor stood up from his chair and put his clipboard worth of medical information on a table. He went to a closet that Minerva hadn't paid much attention to and pulled out a thin looking gown. "I'll step out of the room and I need you to change into this gown for the vaginal exam." The doctor said his tone never changing.

"Excuse me?" Albus asked his voice coming out as a growl.

"Could you repeat that?" Minerva said at the same time.

"Another difference between our worlds?" The doctor asked rhetorically. "In my world women have regular vaginal exams to ensure that they are completely healthy, especially if they are expecting a child." The doctor explained.

"We have spells that do the same." Minerva said crisply. "I'm sorry to cause any problems doctor but a physical exam is not possible." Albus remained silent, his jaw tightly clenched, fearing that he would say something inappropriate; instead he let his wife take care of the situation.

"I can understand you hesitance, many women feel the same nervousness, but in the end it really is better to, I believe the term is, 'bite the bullet'." The doctor said with a reassuring smile.

"Most women aren't bonded body and soul to another human being. I'm sorry doctor but the only man who has ever or will ever see all of me is my husband and you are not him." Minerva said with a fire in her eyes that made the doctor slightly nervous.

"I'm sorry if I offended you and I offer you no ill will at your refusal." The doctor said politely.

"Apology accepted." Minerva said in a more friendly tone. Albus remained quiet.

The doctor looked at Albus for a brief moment but looked back to Minerva when he saw that the man's blue were literally glowing in anger. "I'll schedule an appointment for next Saturday at eleven, if that works for you, so that we can discuss our options."

"That's fine Dr. Rockman. Thank you very much for everything." Minerva said shaking the doctor's hand. Albus followed suit and shook the doctors hand politely, stomping out his anger.

Ten minutes later they were both seated in their shiny silver Porsche digesting the enormity of what had happened. Feeling slightly numb with a mixture of relief and apprehension Albus started the car and began the drive out of London.

Minerva was watching the scenery pass without really paying much attention to where they were. She was slightly surprised when she felt the car turned down a bumpy road and drive towards an empty field. "Albus? Where are you going?" she asked her confusion evident.

Albus smiled but didn't answer instead he parked under a large tree that only had a few leaves left on it. Albus turned the car off and turned in his seat so that he was looking directly at Minerva. "You're going to be fine, and we're going to have another child." Albus said as if he was realizing this for the first time, which he probably was. The shock from earlier was fading and the reality of the situation was setting in. "I hope it's a girl and she's as beautiful as you." He said.

Minerva smiled widely at her husband's happiness. She wanted to tell him how happy she was about everything but words failed her so instead she leaned forward and kissed him hard on the lips. Albus responded eagerly in turn and soon the windows of the small car where fogged up and the birds from the tree they were parked under had long since moved.

"I still say I won." Seamus said before eating a spoonful of mashed potatoes.

"What world do you live in? The score was indisputably twenty-seven to me and fourteen to you. How does that make you the winner?" Harry asked incredulously.

"You can't look at just the score." Seamus explained. "I get a handicap of ten points because you have been playing for years longer than I have."

"That still leaves you three points shy of beating me." Harry pointed out dryly.

"That's when you factor in who looked better while playing and since I'm the more handsome and charming of us I get a five point boost making me the winner." Seamus explained as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"You are not the good looking one!" Harry said loudly, making several upper years look at him oddly. "Daphy, tell Seamus I'm the handsome one." He said with a pout looking at the red head who was sitting to his right.

Daphne who had been quietly eating her meal hoping to not get dragged into one of their arguments cringed. She had known that accepting Harry's invitation to sit with him at dinner was going to be a mistake but he had pleaded saying how he might not survive his detention tonight and if he died he wanted to have spent his last meal with beautiful company and Seamus.

Daphne looked at Blaise to see if he had any advice for her but he was actually having a quiet conversation with one of the Weasley twins, conversation used liberally. Really it was the twin talking with Blaise nodding a lot and very rarely saying anything, but the boy did look interesting if the spark in his eye was anything to judge by.

Knowing that nothing good could come from this she made a show of looking critically at both Harry and Seamus. "Nope sorry. I see no even remotely handsome boys here." She said in a lofty voice.

"What?" Seamus asked. "I'm not only handsome, I'm sexy." He said with a smirk that had Harry slightly nervous.

Daphne squinted and tilted her head to the side. "I have no idea what you're talking about but your obviously delusional or blind."

"What about me is unattractive then?" Seamus asked looking put out.

Daphne smiled wickedly which made Harry grin, knowing his friend had asked for it. "Your scrawny, you have a bad haircut, your arms are too long, your face is to round, you're not tall enough, one ear is higher than the other, and you dress like a slob. I could go on if you like." Daphne said all of this with a false pleasant voice and a fixed smile.

There was silence for a few seconds before Harry started laughing at the devastated face of his friend. "My ears are not crooked I'll have you know." Seamus said angrily. Daphne let out a small giggle and then a full blown laugh so that for the next few minutes both her and Harry were laughing at the look on Seamus's face.

"You'd think from his expression that we'd killed his kitten." Daphne said once she had calmed down. Seamus continued to pout and ignored Daphne's comment.

Harry agreed with Daphne but out of self preservation, he did sleep in the same dorm as Seamus, he didn't say anything further to the damaged ego of his friend. The rest of their meal past uneventfully in Harry's standards, Fred and George had moved closer to the trio after nearly a half an hour of conversation with Blaise, and they told loud and outrageous stories that everyone knew couldn't be true, but everyone enjoyed them nonetheless. Daphne especially enjoyed the relaxed atmosphere of the Gryffindor table compared with the strict silence of the Slytherin house.

Harry sat and ate for as long as he could until it was obvious he was stalling for time. If he could have had his way he would have been the last person eating in the Great Hall, but as luck would have it the twins saw what he was doing.

"Come on Harry"

"We have detention in the"

"Forbidden Forrest tonight." They said as they each grabbed him by an arm and lifted him off the bench and set him on his feet.

Harry looked longingly at where Daphne, Seamus, and Blaise were sitting laughing at his abrupt departure but didn't fight the twins. "Farewell." He cried dramatically to his friends making them laugh harder. The rest of the Great Hall was staring at him some wondering if he were mad, but he ignored them. "If I die keep your grubby hands away from my trunk Seamus!" He called out as an afterthought.

Seamus put a hand over his heart and called "You wound me." He probably would have said more but at that point Harry was lead beyond the tall door that lead out of the Great Hall.

Up at the head table Albus and Minerva shared a look that went unnoticed by everyone still in the Great Hall.

"Thank Merlin he's not my kid. He looks like a handful." Rolanda said aloud to no one in particular but her eyes were on Minerva and shining mischievously. To Albus's shock every teacher who taught Harry, except for Severus he still refused to come to the upper levels of the castle, nodded their heads in agreement.

Minerva wanted to say something in the defense about her son, but for the sake of secrecy she couldn't and even if she weren't bound by secrecy she would be lying if she said that Harry wasn't a handful. If left unoccupied her son could cause serious mischief, hence the hours upon hours of karate and football. She smiled a bit smugly to herself for how well she had kept her son busy and as a result of out of trouble for ten years as she took a sip of her pumpkin juice.

As soon as Harry and the twins exited the Great Hall they saw Filch waiting for them. He was to be their escort to the grounds keepers' hut, a half giant named Hagrid, who would take them into the forest for their detention.

"Brilliant." The twins both muttered under their breath before putting large smiles on their faces.

"Hello, Mr. Filch." Fred said.

"Lovely weather we're having." George said

"Yes it is quite smashing." Fred responded. Harry had to stop himself from laughing out loud at the hateful look the care taker sent to the twins. Harry knew that if his father hadn't strictly forbidden it Filch would have had them strung up in the dungeons for weeks.

"I don't have all day and you three have detention in the Forbidden Forest tonight, get going." Filch said as cruelly as he could.

The walk down to the forest was in no way comforting. The more they walked the closer they came to the ominous and dark line of trees that marked the beginning of the forest. Harry supposed he would have felt safer if he didn't know all of the creatures that lived in forest or if he had thought that if any of those creatures tried to maim or kill him and his friends, his father could be there at the drop of a hat. Unfortunately for his conscious he knew that even though his father was headmaster of the school and had control of the grounds, he had no control over the forest. The forest had been untamable in the days of the founders and over a thousand years later it still was a place where only the brave or stupid ventured willingly.



Even the twins became silent as Hagrids hut came into view. They stopped trying to annoy Filch with pleasant conversation and looked slightly worried at the swaying tree line in front of them.

They made their way to the hut that up close looked warm and inviting and Filch knocked on the door. When no one answered Harry was slightly ashamed to admit that for a few moments he hoped Hagrid was out so that they wouldn't have to go into the forest. He could tell by the small looks of hope on the twins faces that they were hoping for the same.

"O'er here." A gruff voice called from behind them. Harry's heart sank as he turned slowly and saw that Hagrid was indeed there. "Sorry bout that I was in me garden. You m'st be 'Arry." Hagrid said his warm black eyes looking Harry over like so many had already done this year, but instead of making him feel uncomfortable he felt kind of protected. He knew already that Hagrid was a friend of his parents, birth parents and adopted that is, and when he stared it felt more like he was making sure he was safe then trying to catch a glimpse of the boy-who-lived-to-hate-his-fame. "Ello Fred, George. Still ca't keep outta trouble I see."

"Hello Hagrid." Fred and George said with cheery waves ignoring Hagrids remark about the trouble they seemed to always be in.

"Off with ya Filch. I can handle these three unless you wanta be headin into the fo'est with us." Hagrid said making Filch send a quick look at the forest, Harry felt a swell of satisfaction that the care taker's face seemed a shade paler as he hurriedly walk back to the castle muttering about work he had to get done.

"A'right you three, we have some work to be getting done. Sometin's been killin Unicorns, I found one dead te other day and today I found fresh blood. Th'es a unicorn wounded in th're and we've gotta find it before she dies." Hagrid said as he lifted something up from the ground. Harry was slightly unnerved to see that it was a crossbow.

He really didn't want to go into the forest now. Unicorns were the purest and most innocent creatures in the magical world. Killing one was beyond evil. He didn't want to imagine what kind of creature could be hunting them.

Hagrid must have said something that he missed because he started to walk into the forest and Fred and George were following him. He quickly caught up with them; he didn't want to be lost before their search even began. He got instep behind Fred and George and tuned out whatever Hagrid was saying. It wasn't to be rude but even though he was slightly terrified, he was in the Forbidden Forest. There were countless rare and hard to find plants in here that you could only get either by venturing in here by yourself or buying them for countless galleons in Diagon alley.



The more time passed the more and more relaxed Harry got. They had been walking on a path for more than an hour and they had yet to see or hear anything other than the odd bird or small animal. The Forbidden Forest didn't seem so scary anymore. In fact Harry thought it was rather peaceful. In was nearly silent with the exception of cracking of twigs under their feet and the odd animal noise, though they weren't as frequent as Harry thought they should be. Above them Harry could sometimes catch glimpses of the half full moon and several stars.

Fred and George seemed to be having a good time too. They were chatting constantly with Hagrid about various subjects ranging from how good their quidditch team was this year, their first match was coming up soon, to what sorts of animals they would own if they didn't have to abide by ministry guidelines. Apparently Hagrids fondest wish was to own a dragon. After that fact was revealed the twins immediately started talking about their brother Charlie who worked at a Dragon reserve in Romania.

Harry listened with half an ear. He was also busy. His potion supplies were low already because he had been making at least three times as many potions as his year mates. He could have asked his parents to order him replacements or he could have done it with his pocket money, but this was much easier and was turning out to be more fun. All of his pockets were stuffed with various ingredients that he recognized. He had never, except for that one time in that candy shop in France, been happier that he had magically enlarged pockets. All he needed was aconite and if he could find it he would be thrilled to have some hellebore, but he doubted it would grow in the forest. Traditionally it liked warm and sunny places, not exactly the climate of the forest but a boy could hope.

He was scanning the path intently when he saw something shine in the wood off to the right. He stopped walking and squinted trying to see what it was but it was too far away for him to tell. All he could make out was a faint red glow. He looked back to Hagrid, Fred, George, but they hadn't noticed that he had stopped. They were too involved telling one another dragon stories. His curiosity overcame his fear of the forest and after a brief hesitation he strayed into the wood away from the safe path they had been following.

He walked the first few feet tentatively fearing that something would pop out of the shadows of the dark night and swallow him whole, but after he walked a good twenty feet without any trouble he once more set his sights on the red glow he had earlier observed. The glow was stronger now and larger. He was almost giddy with excitement as he walked quickly towards it, he had never been permitted to do something potentially dangerous unless there was no hope of him getting seriously hurt before and this was trip into the forest was turning out to be quite the adventure. He loved it. His face was flush with excitement as he thought of the possibilities of what the red glow could perhaps be. His pace quickened and a nervous smile broke out on his face.



He thought for a moment that he had lost sight of the glow and panicked; he closed his eyes once and reopened them. To his profound relief the red glow was just barely out of sight glowing merrily in the distance. His sense of urgency was pushing him forward, he was afraid that he was moving to slow and that by the time he reached the glow it would disappear again. He didn't know what 'it' was but the fear that it would disappear overcame him. Before he understood why he was running towards the glow. He still couldn't make out exactly what it was.

He ran towards it as fast as his football trained legs could carry him. He was getting closer he could feel it and the glow was becoming brighter. He could almost tell what it was, but not yet. He just needed to be a little bit closer. At the moment when it seemed as if he would finally discover the source of the glow a root caught his foot and he fell forward into a clearing. Pain shot through his body as his elbows and knees took the majority of his falling weight. His head was jolted forward and instead of the hard ground he was expecting it hit spongy grass.

"Oww." He said to himself. He pushed himself up off the floor of the wood and was surprised when he saw that half his body had collided with hard root covered forest floor and the rest, his head mainly, had landed in a patch of luscious green grass. The grass only covered a small area, only ten yards or so in length and width. It was what was in the center of the grassy patch that made Harry gasp slightly.

Growing in the center of the most magical and most dangerous forest on the continent was a rose bush, but this rose bush was far superior to any other rose bush he had ever in his life seen or ever heard about. Every rose seemed to be a burning flame, only contained in the shape of the most perfect rose. To Harry they seemed so out of place in the dangerous and difficult wilderness, but yet he couldn't think of any garden in the world that was fine enough as to have the right to house the magnificent bush. He could almost feel the magic emanating from them making the hair on his arm stand up and his skin tingle.

He slowly got up from the ground and walked hesitantly towards the bush. He stood for a moment staring at the roses trying to decide if they were safe to touch. Finally he put his hand out and touched the nearest rose.

He was shocked when he felt warmth actually flow through him; it felt as if he was sitting in front a friendly fire. He pulled his hand away quickly and cut himself on one of the thorns. His finger tip bled slow drops of red blood onto the ground but he hardly noticed. He was in awe of the urethral roses. As he stared at them he felt warmth flow through him, not in a physical way, it felt as if he were hearing a phoenix song. His soul felt lighter and he couldn't help but smile, he felt at peace. He wanted a rose to bring home to his family, he could only imagine what his 

father would say at the discovery, that is if he hadn't already known of them, but it felt wrong to take something as beautiful as this knowing that it would soon die.

He stood there in indecision for some minutes, trying to decide if he should take a rose, he probably could have stood there all night in the splendor of the plant and not mind the cold but loud voices in the distant made him realize that Hagrid and the twins must have noticed he was missing. Feeling slightly foolish he did what felt natural and asked out loud. "Could I please have one of your roses?" It seemed like the only thing he could do at that moment. It would have been rude to take one without at least trying to get permission because he knew this was much more than a simple plant, this bush was of a magical purpose. To what end or what purpose he didn't know but he did know with all his heart that it wasn't as innocent as it looked.

Nothing happened, and as a result he stood there for a few more moments, only in the back of his mind noticing that the voices were getting fainter. He was ready to give up when not one or even two, but three roses fell from the bush into the soft grass. He blinked in shock not actually believing that it worked. "Um, Thank you." He said out loud no longer feeling as foolish as he once had.

He bent down and as gently as he could he gathered the roses in his arms. They were larger and fuller than any normal rose he had ever seen, but seemed not to weigh any more than the air around him. He found the spot where he had fallen and made his way through the trees towards where he thought the path should be. He glanced once more at the magical bush, it was perfectly still in the windy night looking exactly as it had when he first set eyes upon it. As he walked the roses not only kept him feeling warm and at peace but they provided a faint light which made it easier for him to see since he couldn't take out his wand for fear of crushing one of the beloved roses.

He wondered in the trees for what seemed like hours but in reality he knew wasn't all that long, without finding any trace of the path or Hagrid and the twins. He was just starting to panic when he heard the sound of cracking branches in a clearing up ahead. Thinking that it must be Hagrid and the twins he made his way towards the clearing. He came through the thick trees into the clearing with a sheepish smile on his face and an apology on his lips for making them worry.

All thought left his mind when he saw what was really in the clearing. His stomach churned as he saw someone or something leaning over the body of a fallen unicorn. The slurping sounds left no guess as to what the creature was doing.

He stood there horrified for what seemed like an eternity before his senses came back to him. He tried to back into the woods where he could hopefully escape but his foot hit a tree stump, sending him and his roses sprawling to the ground.



The creature let out a hiss and turned towards where Harry was. It looked like the body of a man but Harry refused to believe that any man would kill such a pure creature. He could see the silver blood of the unicorn upon the monsters chin.

When Harry raised his eyes to where he supposed the monsters eyes must be his scar erupted in pain. It was the worst pain he had ever felt in his life, worse than the time he had fallen off his skate board and broken his left leg and right arm. He felt as if his scar would surely burst open and he would bleed to death in this forest clearing. He was sure that at any moment he would die or go mad from pain. He tried to open his eyes through the pain but could only just manage to do so; he didn't want to die not knowing what was coming.

He could see a blurry shape coming towards him and he tried to lift his arms or move his legs so that he could move away but they seemed paralyzed. The thing moved closer to him and reached out its arm to touch Harry's forehead. A pale white hand was inches from his face when something large came bounding out of the shadows and into the creature.

The creature shrieked as it was thrown out of the clearing, it came charging back but Harry heard a sharp twang and another angrier shriek from the creature. The last of the creature that Harry saw were its robes flowing out behind it as it ran. As soon as the creature was gone the pain in his scar all but disappeared leaving him with only a slight head ache.

"Are you alright?" a voice from above him asked. Harry looked up apprehensively and was slightly shocked to see a centaur standing over him with his hand stretched out in a helpful gesture. The centaur had white blond hair, a strong muscled chest, pale blue eyes, and the lower body of a palomino horse.

"You're a centaur." Harry stated stupidly. He knew from the stories and history text that he was always reading that centaurs rarely if ever got involved in the matters of wizards. They were, or at least his books told him so, happy to stay in the forests and read the night skies.

"And you are the Potter boy." The centaur said surprising Harry. "The forest is not safe, especially for you. Climb onto my back and I will take as far as the edge of the forest. You should be safe there."

"Are you sure?" Harry asked. He knew that centaurs were very proud creature and he had never heard of a centaur letting a human ride on its back before.

"Yes, hurry. The forest is not safe. Mars is bright." The centaur said as if it explained everything.

Harry nodded his understanding though he didn't quite get the bit about mars being bright. He gathered his roses gently as he could and was relieved to see that they bore no sign of their fall. In fact they look as pristine as when he first picked them up from the grassy floor. He climbed 

onto the centaur with no problem. He had been taught to ride a horse when he was younger, it was one of those, you have to do it so don't complain types of lessons.

"FIRENZE!" a voice thundered as another centaur came into the clearing. "What are you doing with a human on your back? Have you no pride or are you now a common mule?" Harry froze on the centaurs back as he watched two other centaurs make their way into the clearing one of dark color and another of a lighter tone, though not as pale as the one he was on.

"Do you realize who this is?" The centaur Harry was on, whose name he now knew to be Firenze, said back calmly. "This is the Potter boy, the sooner he leaves the forest the better."

"That is still not an excuse to have a human on your back!" the dark one shouted angrily.

"I'm sure Firenze thinks it for the best." The lighter one said quietly as he pawed the ground nervously. Harry thought it looked like he was afraid of the darker one.

"What does that have to do with us? Centaurs only concern is with what has been foretold. It's not our business to run around after stray humans, to let them use us like forest donkeys." The dark one retorted with a vicious glare. The pale centaur became quiet.

Harry felt Firenze tense. "Do you not see that unicorn?" He said somewhat heatedly, gesturing to the body of the slain unicorn that lay only a few feet from them. Harry tried not to look at the sight, the thought of something so pure and innocent dying in such a way broke his heart. "Do you not understand why it was killed? Or have the stars not yet let you in on that secret? I am against what is lurking in the forest, it and all like it. Even if that means I am to be on the side of the humans." Before Harry had time to brace himself, Firenze turned from the other two centaurs and galloped off into the woods. Harry had to use his knees to keep himself mounted otherwise he would have dropped the roses, and he would have looked like a fool in front of those two other centaurs if he had fallen off. Once the clearing was out of site Firenze slowed so that they were walking through the woods.

"Harry Potter, do you know what unicorn blood is used for?" Firenze asked suddenly.

"I have never read of such a thing." Harry answered quietly as he felt slightly sick as to whatever the use may be. Something like that could only be used for evil. Nothing would ever justify the killing of such an innocent creature.

"It is a monstrous thing to slay a unicorn. Only one who has nothing to lose but everything to gain would commit such a odious crime." Harry felt a chill of foreboding go down his spine, he didn't like where this conversation was going. "The blood of a unicorn will keep you alive even if you're an inch from death, but at a terrible price. You would live a half life, a cursed life, from the moment the blood touches your lips."



Almost against his will he asked the question that he both feared and needed to know. "What would do such a thing?" he asked.

"Do you know what is being hidden in the castle at this very moment?" Firenze asked.

"The Philosophers Stone." Harry whispered slightly horrified at what this revelation meant.

"Now if that monster that we both just witnessed could get his hands on the Elixir of Life it would be brought back to full strength and power. It would have eternal life with none of the ill effects of consuming the unicorn blood." Firenze said.

Harry shivered again. "But who could be after it? Who could be that desperate?" He asked again more insistently.

"Can you think of no one who would give everything even his humanity to once more have power?" Firenze asked.

"I've never heard of anyone that evil except Voldemort, but he's dead." Harry said without much conviction. The pieces of the puzzle were adding up and the answer seemed to be something worse than his worst nightmare.

"Nothing is ever as it seems. Voldemort is not dead. His body was destroyed the night he marked you but his essence was not." Harry sat frozen on Firenze's back, not even the warmth of his magic roses could warm the chill that fell over his heart.

Voldemort was alive and he had just seen him. It explained why his scar had hurt so badly, since Voldemort was the one who gave it to him. Why had his father never told him that Voldemort was still alive? He had to have known, he was Voldemorts biggest adversary not to mention he was the most powerful wizard of the day. Why had his mother said nothing? She knew everything his father did, but neither of them had seen fit to tell him that the man who killed his parent and had tried to kill him was still alive. Voldemort probably wanted revenge on him. He was the one who supposedly destroyed the Dark Lords body. If Voldemort ever came back he would kill Harry.

They came to the edge of the forest and Harry dismounted Firenze. "I can take you no further but you should be safe from here. Hurry your father is worried. Hagrid and the other boys returned nigh an hour ago without you."

Harry looked into Firenze's face searchingly. "You know my father?" He asked.

"Albus Dumbledore and I have had many long discussions about the cosmos. Your mother is well acquainted with my kind also, though she does not believe. She ventures into the forest for the scenery or so she says." Firenze said politely.



Harry nodded somewhat distractedly, his mind was moving in a continuous circle with Voldemort right at the center of his thoughts. Finally he realized that he had been standing there for far longer than was considered polite. "Thank you, Centaur Firenze. I believe you have just saved my life; I am in your debt. If there is ever anything I can do for you, you only have to ask." Harry said cordially. He really was grateful to Firenze and would feel horrible about being so distant later but t the moment his only train of thought revolved around Voldemort.

"Pass on my regards to your father and mother; tell them 'mars shines bright'." Firenze said. Harry nodded then turned to leave his mind replaying the events of earlier. The picture of the fallen unicorn kept surfacing nearly making him cry at the anguish he felt at the cruelly displayed to something so perfect. "I will be sure to tell your father of how you honored me with your words." Firenze said making Harry turn around. He thought he saw the Centaur smile but before he could see for sure Firenze galloped off into the woods.

Harry stood there for a moment feeling lost. He didn't know what to do. A branch cracked loudly somewhere to his left, making him jump out of his thoughts and he was thrown back into reality. Voldemort was alive somewhere in these woods and was standing there out in the open with arms full of roses. He would be an easy target if anything, namely Voldemort, were to attack him.

He looked to the lights of the castle and ran towards them not caring what he looked like. He just wanted to get back to the castle where he knew he had some level of safety. He knew Hogwarts was the one place Voldemort had never dared to attack; he hoped that that fact was still true.

A/N:

IM so sorry about the wait but Ive been super busy. I took two five week college classes, so I had school Monday through Thursday and then I work Friday through Sunday now that thats done I'm working seven days a week at my families business. I'm actually getting ready to head out to LBI right now to meet with some business executives with my uncle, oh joy.

Peace Im working on the next chappy leave, it'll be here when I'm done I promise.

ALisha

Review me!!